During the early years of homeschooling my children, I kept seeing Elsa Beskow’s name pop up on lists of “living books.” Educator Charlotte Mason used that term to describe captivating works of high literary merit that also cultivate a love for learning. At the time, I usually had to request an interlibrary loan for Beskow’s picture books because my local library didn’t stock them. But alongside the rise in popularity of home education, classic tales like Beskow’s are experiencing a revival in interest. These stories from early 20th century Scandinavia have had enormous staying power in the English-speaking world. The 2018 publication of box set collections of Beskow’s titles by Edinburgh publisher Floris Books only further bolstered this interest.
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